Many brain diseases are „very well treatable,” especially depression, anxiety, or obsessions, says Prof. Dr. Dan Rujescu, a Romanian-born physician specializing in psychiatry, psychosomatics, psychotherapy, and dementia at Wiener Privatklinik in Austria.
The doctor says that most of his patients have depression or anxiety. He also states that there are patients who visit the doctor with certain physical conditions that could actually have a direct connection to the brain.
According to the psychiatrist, 1% of the world's population has schizophrenia and schizophrenia can also be treated very well.
Dan Rujescu is a psychiatrist and ranks among the top 5% of scientists globally, according to Stanford University.
He has over 30 years of experience in diagnosing and treating psychiatric and psychological conditions. His main research areas are neurogenetics, schizophrenia, Alzheimer's disease, and neurocognitive psychology. He has published over 1,000 scientific articles, which have been widely cited (over 68,000 citations according to Google Scholar).
Most of the patients I see actually have depression or anxiety
"Most of the patients I see actually have depression or anxiety because these are the most common psychiatric illnesses. Usually, depression and anxiety can be cured, with or without medication, depending on the case. Mild depression can be cured with psychotherapy alone. If it's a more severe depression, then medication is necessary, and in the best case, together with psychotherapy. The same goes for anxiety, depending on its nature," explained Prof. Dr. Dan Rujescu.
When asked if the number of people with depression or anxiety is increasing, he said that the visibility of psychiatric illnesses is on the rise, both from the patients' side and that of specialized doctors.
"We have the brain, which is the most complex structure known to us in the Universe, but the brain is not supposed to get sick. That was the public idea decades ago. But it was ridiculous, all organs could malfunction except the brain.
Of course, the brain can malfunction, as it is the most complicated thing in humans. Neuro-psychiatric diseases are common, so there is nothing rare about them. These need to be treated, as they are very treatable. It's time to destigmatize these illnesses.
It seems like there are more patients, but there aren't. There are more people being treated and seen by specialists," he said.
He emphasized that many brain diseases are treatable.
"Many brain diseases are treatable, especially depression, anxiety, obsessions. They are very well treatable.
In order for a person to improve with a brain disease, practically all diseases fall into this category, except for diseases like 'mad cow disease,' let's say, or huge physical brain traumas, such as those from accidents. Or severe hypoxia. But many other diseases can be treated very well," added Dr. Dan Rujescu.
Why are people anxious and depressed
When asked why people are anxious and depressed, he stated that "there is a genetic component, a genetic vulnerability representing one-third of the risk, and there are factors from everything that happens to us throughout life or in childhood, or there may be more current events, such as job loss or loss of a child."
All these can lead to a depressive reaction.
"There can be exogenous factors, very different from patient to patient, but they have a certain impact, a force. Sometimes, when you lose a child or parent or someone important to a person, it is natural to have a physiological reaction, but it's not easy to determine whether it's depression or a normal physiological reaction.
If it's a normal reaction, for example, the situation is interrupted by pleasant, beautiful thoughts about that person. So, it's not all black. In depression, practically everything is black," said Prof. Dr. Dan Rujescu.
When asked in what spectrum young people we see talking to themselves on the street would fall into, he says it could be untreated schizophrenia.
"If it's not about elderly people, so people over 40, then it could be a spectrum of schizophrenia, an untreated psychosis. It can be well treated, but it needs treatment. We have many medications that work very well for psychoses, so also for schizophrenia, for example. Unfortunately, many patients do not want to be treated," explained Dan Rujescu.
According to him, for such a patient to be treated, they must acknowledge their suffering.
"Schizophrenia is very treatable. 1% of the world's population has schizophrenia," said the psychiatrist.
He also gave an example of a patient with dementia.
"I searched for the cause, couldn't find it. I found out that she had been taking a very low dose of a Valium-like sedative for several years. It was an elderly person. We gradually removed the medication from her treatment and then the dementia disappeared! The cause was the medication, which had been administered in the correct dose, but this sedative should not be prescribed chronically - nevertheless, some prescribe it chronically - and it has very negative effects on cognition, on thinking. It was impressive, the dementia went away, which doesn't usually happen," Rujescu recounts.
Everything that happens in life affects us. The brain has enormous plasticity
When asked if he had analyzed certain historical figures by following them in images, if great world leaders had suffered from mental illnesses, the psychiatrist said that to diagnose them, it would have been necessary to talk to them, to ask them certain questions.
"Everything that happens in life affects us. The brain has enormous plasticity. We are different in the evening than we were this morning. And regarding childhood, it may be more important or not, depending on what happened and what tools that person used to process them," said the psychiatrist.
He also says that there are patients who visit the doctor with certain physical conditions that could actually have a direct connection to the brain.
"If you think about how many people retire because of back pain, for example, among them, there are many who have psychosomatic illnesses or depression. They present with back pain, headaches, dizziness, digestive or sexual disorders. There can be different symptoms, which may have a cause in that organ, but which may also have a mental cause."